In an integrated circuit (IC) formation process, semiconductor wafers, each including a plurality of identical semiconductor chips, are manufactured first. After manufacturing, the semiconductor wafers are sawed to separate the semiconductor chips, so that each of the semiconductor chips may be packaged individually.
A seal ring structure is used to protect the IC from moisture degradation, ionic contamination, and damage during dicing and packaging processes.
In some arrangements, the seal ring structure occupies a large width of the chip area of each die. Therefore, the effective chip area for functional integrated circuits is reduced for each die. To gain more effective chip area, the chip area for each die must be increased. Hence, the total die number within one wafer becomes less and the cost for each die becomes higher.